Mass Effect 3 Endings Guide - HEAVY SPOILERS

WARNING: BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! (We were not sure if to include this warning - if you are reading an article about the ME3 endings, you can guess yourself that there will be spoilers. But we put the warning anyway, just in case...)

Factors affecting ending of the game:

Collector's Base: In Mass Effect 2, Shepard had to make a critical decision between the following options:Destroying the Collector's BaseLeaving the Collector's Base to Cerberus

If you did NOT play Mass Effect 2, or if you started a new game on Mass Effect 3 WITHOUT importing a character, the assumed choice is:Shepard Destroyed the Collectors Base

Note: You can achieve the perfect ending whether or not you destroyed the Collector's base. Main difference is that you get some additional war assets if you chose to save the collectors base.

Effective Military Strength (EMS): This is the War Assets, times the Readiness Rating. On your War Assets screen you can see something like:Total Military Strength: 6000Readiness Rating: 80%Effective Military Strength: 4800

That last figure is the determining number.

The lowest readiness rating you can have is 50%. Fastest way to increase the Readiness Rating is through Multiplayer. However, you should be able to achieve high enough EMS even without multiplayer.

Higher Effective Military Strength means access to a better ending.

Illusive Man Paragon/Renegade Ending: A 100% Paragon or Renegade rating unlocks a new blue/red conversation options when talking to the illusive man. After the illusive man says: "You... you'd undo everything I've accomplished. I won't let that happen." The dialog choices available are "But you already have", "Then you've failed humanity", "You're theirs now.", and "You're Pathetic". If you unlocked the Paragon ending, the first two choices are Blue/Red PERSUADE options. Otherwise, those dialog options are grayed out.

Paragon Ending: Choose the blue option and you tell him that because of him, humanity is already undone. The Reapers have the Citadel. They've got all the species fighting each other instead of fighting them. You further tell The Illusive Man that he has done exactly what the Reapers wanted, and that he is still doing it because they control him. You try to tell Illusive man not to let the Reapers win and to break their hold. Illusive man tells you he tried, and shoots himself in the head.

Renegade Ending: Choose the red option and tell him that he is weak and selfish, and because of him humanity will suffer. Illusive man insists he saved humanity, but you tell him that he sacrificed humanity for his own selfish wants and his lust for control. The Illusive Man persists in claiming he is the savior of humanity, the pinnacle of our species. He attempts to shoot you. Beat him to the punch.

Saving Anderson: Watch for the Renegade Interrupt to attempt and save Anderson. You will have to press the button quickly in order to shoot The Illusive Man before he shoots Anderson in the back of his head. HOWEVER, Anderson still dies, no matter whether you shoot Illusive Man fast enough or what. The difference is only whether or not he dies by being executed in the back of the head by TIM. If you manage to shoot Illusive Man before he shoots Anderson, there is also an extra scene where Anderson and Shepard sit together, you talk to Anderson and he tells you he is proud of you, before dieing.

Endings Spoilers:

First, we will give you a summary of all the endings based on your Effective Military Strength and on whether the Collectors Base was destroyed or not. Afterwards, scroll down to get a more detailed analysis of the events in the ending, and to understand what goes on in the cutscenes.Collector's Base Destroyed

0 to 1,749 EMS: Your only choice is to destroy the Reapers. Earth is destroyed.

1,750 to 1,899 EMS: Shepard can choose to destroy the Reapers, or control them. If you destroy the Reapers, Earth is destroyed in the process as well. If you control the Reapers, Earth is devastated but not destroyed.

1,900 to 2,349 EMS: Shepard can choose between destroying and controlling Reapers. Both choices save earth, and humanity survives, however Earth's buildings still get vaporized.

Ending Explanation: The Catalyst tells you that you have choice, more than you deserve, as you are the first Organic ever to stand there. The choices presented to you depend on your War Assets (Effective Military Strength) The Crucible created new possibilities. You can DESTROY it and wipe out synthetic life including the Geth. But the Reapers will be destroyed. Releasing the energy of the Crucible will end the cycle. But it will also destroy the Mass Relays. Or, you can CONTROL the Reapers. You will die. You will control them, but lose everything you have. The Reapers will obey you. The third solution is SYNTHESIS. You can add your energy to the Crucible's. Everything you are will be absorbed, and then sent out. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework, a new DNA. The cycle will end. Synthesis is the final evolution of life.

The paths are open, but you have to choose/There is only one way ahead. (You may or may not have a choice here, depending on your readiness rating)

Controlling the Reapers: Shepard advances towards the catalyst beam, then turn left, drops his gun, and places both arms on the energy receptacles, as he turns into a Reaper and gives them the command to cease fire.Synthesis: Shepard drops his weapon and heads toward the center, then jumps into the Catalyst Beam.Cutscene Explanation:

Energy waves from the crucible have a different color depending on what Shepard chose.Destroy Ending: RED ending. Three possible endings under this scenario are: Destroy Vaporization/Destroy Bad/Destroy GoodControl Ending: BLUE ending. Two possible endings are Control Good/ Control BadSynergy Ending: GREEN ending. Only possible ending is Synergy GoodEarth's Fate: If Shepard chose to destroy the Reapers, a big wave of flames sweeps through the Earth. With a low EMS score, the movie will show the flame wave destroying everything in it's path, including Reapers, buildings, and humans. Earth is destroyed.

Medium score on the Effective Strength causes the humans to live, however Earth is heavily damaged by the blasts, and buildings get vaporized.

With the higher Effective Military Strength Score, the energy wave destroys the Reapers but leaves buildings intact, and does not kill the humans. Earth is not destroyed.

If Shepard chose to control the Reapers, the cutscene will show some electric activity on the Reapers, and the Reapers will leave Earth. With low EMS, many buildings are destroyed in the process. With high EMS, buildings remain intact.

If Shepard chose the Synergy path, the Reapers depart from Earth and Earth is saved.

In cases where humans survived, the soldiers on the ground cheer as the Reapers either leave Earth or are destroyed.Normandy Crew Fate: The cutscene shows Joker at the bridge of the Normandy SR-2, attempting to outrun the big energy wave that is chasing the Normandy. The wave catches up after a while, sucking the Normandy in. The Normandy crash lands on a deserted planet, but the squadmates survive.Shepard Survives: When you reach an ending in which Shepard lives, in the end of the cutscene you will be taken to the ruins of the citadel and see Shepard's body (identified by his Dog Tag). Suddenly you will see and hear Shepard breathing.

After Credit Epilogue:An old man, and a child, are walking on a planet looking at a big moon.Stargazer: Our galaxy has billions of stars. Each of those stars could have many worlds. Every world could be a home to a different form of life. And every life is a special story of its own.Child: Tell me another story about the ShepardStargazer: It's getting late, but, okay... one more story.

This leads to open world mode:

Free RoamCommander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat. Now you can continue to build that legend through further gameplay and downloadable content (DLC),This puts you in free roaming mode, and resets the game to just before Shepard's attack on the Illusive's man base. Reapers will be located at different systems across the galaxy map, so feel free to go and explore. You will also be able to install future DLCs that will add content to the game.

128 Responses to "Mass Effect 3 Endings Guide - HEAVY SPOILERS"

"When you reach an ending in which Shepard lives, in the end of the cutscene you will be taken to the ruins of the citadel"
This is incorrect. The debris surrounding Shepard is Mortar, Cement, and Stone. Not the material the Citadel is constructed of. This means he wakes up on Earth, probably in London. This also means he was never on the Citadel, because we would not survive the explosion, or re-entry into Earth, let alone the landing.

it could also be that he was indeed on the citadel, but he ended up back on earth, the same way he got to the citadel. either he limped quickly to the "beam", or was taken there by keepers. but really, the "never there in the first place" idea seems the more supportable one, given the many theories. in either case, not the citadel.

Can I just point out, this may not be Shepard? James had joined the N7 program and may well have picked up replacement dog-tags from either the Citadel at one of the later visits, from Hackett when he came aboard the Normandy or at the temporary base on Earth ....

I brought James with me on final battle, and thought I saw him on the ground as I moved in slo mo but felt he may not be actually dead because wouldnt game makers allow us to check him out at least? I mean, it's kind of a BIG DEAL and I went over to him, but no prompts, nada! I was/am upset about this. :^[. So... Are you saying if I had brought any other squad mate, they would have lived? Only James shows up as dead?

I took james and Liara along with me, I had full EMS and full paragon points and when I chose to destroy the reapers I saw Shep breathe at the end. In the scene where Joker lands on that weird planet, Liara AND James step out onto the planet (you see james walk out of the ship after the camera zooms out to see more of the landscape, sky and normany) - this happens with all the squad-mates you pick I think. Perhaps this place could be "heaven" - where all heroes/good people go after dying. Who knows...

no necessarily. there is metal mixed in with the other debris. it also only showed you a very small area surrounding him. entirely possible that other debris is around, just not in your line of sight. now lets not jump to conclusions here; just because he is back on earth does not mean he was never on the citadel, Shepard survived being spaced once its very likely that bioware intended for him to survive again.

He got to the citadel through a beam of light, which was still intact connecting london to it. It seems simple enough that this would be able to get him back to earth, without the nasty bit of buring up on re-entry.

It isn't really a "free roam" mode. There is no where to roam to, because the point at which they send you to in the game, you probably have finished everything else in the game. It is more of a "sent back two hours and waiting for DLC" mode

Also, Shepard does not come out of ruins of the Citadel. The Citadel is not made of bricks and concrete. Also, he wouldn't of survived the re-entry of a giant space station the size of New York crashing on to Earth when he was already on the brink of death.

not a good ending, i would have had a final boss fight like deadspace2, a mental fight with the illusive man where he appears surronded by a holographic reaper in the woods from the nightmare, you start by running and the turn and can either say 'i dont fight alone' and are joined by everyone shepard has helped since me1, squadmates, (including dead ones) crew members and such ending with the normandy finishing him, or say 'you think your big, ive fought worse' and are aided by enemies, saren, the geth and collectors, ending with the illusive man being beaten by the human reaper. then some diaolge between anderson and the illusive man where you can kill one, controling or destroying the reapers and leaving it open for expansion

Did I miss something? I haven't finished the game yet and all I see on the post are same endings. How are they different or have more than 16 endings? I get the fact that the collectors base just separates them but still if you where to put this on a computer schematic I still come to 1. Relays are destroyed 2. Shepard dies not matter what except for one choice (But how in the hell he gets back to earth no idea) 3. Normady crashes (I thought they where helping with the fight) No matter how I look at it they look the same to me and don't fit with the whole story. Is it just me or no one else can see that. It starts on this line of choices but they all come to the same drop. I have been trying to avoid spoilers but now after seeing this, I think I might want to return my copy. Don't get me wrong I love the game but this ending is not a good one. I like the dark energy better it makes more sense than this.

Sorry Ninachan, essentially they aren't 16 endings, just 16 different ways to get to 1 of 3 endings.

1. Control (blue)
2. Destroy (red)
3. Synthesis (green)

The kicker is if you youtube "mass effect 3 ending comparison." My apologies if you find them disappointing.
Feel free to join us here http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9851623 in the discussion of the ending.

Alright so here it is guys, harbinger lands and hits you with its beam. Then you wake up and got the the citadel blah blah blah. You notice how the "Catalyst" is the child from vancouver that died and Shepard has dreams of the poor soul dying at least twice through the game? Well I find it to be more of a coicidence personally. I've seen all 3 of the ending being that I have beat the game almost 3 times. (Just restart from the last mission) and with Controlling the Reapers the child is standing behind you watching you do this same as the Synthesis ending, but when you Destroy The Reapers the kid ceases to be behind you and you wake up on Earth. Just think about this but... SHEPARD WAS INDOCTRINATED. AND BREAKS THE LINK WITH THE DESTROYING THE REAPERS, THUS WAKING UP ON EARTH SURROUNDED BY RUBBLE. And no he was "Transported by a beam back to Earth" because when shepard was supposedly on the Citadel he was on the brink of death with his clothing in shreds and in the cutscene he has all of his N7 armore intact regardless to what you were wearing originally on your playthrough. I've made my case.

Ok, so Shepard never went up the beam to the citadel and never activated the crucible, and therefore the reapers are still alive and attacking earth... so how do we destroy them if not with the crucible? What other alternative is there? And if we do end up activating the crucible, what would it actually do?

I hope Bioware are the genuis' i think they are so they can find a way to smoothly end the greatest game series of all time

So keeping the collectors base intact just means you get an extra war asset basically. Uniting organics and synthetics into techno organics is the true ending, because shepards body and essence becomes one with the life in the universe.

The guide may be not accurate about the perfect ending.
I played a new paragon Shepard in ME3 (no import from ME2). I maxed my reputation bar. I ended up with about 4700 EMS (about 5600 War assets with roughly 85% readiness obtained with multi & iOS games). During the game, I always chose Paragon option when talking to TIM.
in the end, I did not need to shot TIM to "save" Anderson, just pushed it to kill himself by choosing Paragon option every time it was possible.
After that, I chose to destroy the reaper and was able to see the end where Shepard is breathing.
I did it twice just to be sure I didn't miss something.
So, the game may add some Military Strenght during the London mission or you don't need 5000+ EMS to have the "perfect ending".
I don't get something. The synthesis may look as the "best" choice in the end, because there's no casualties and the reapers are no longer a threat, but why is it harder to get the so called "perfect ending" where Shep is alive ?

Surviving does not necessarily mean it is perfect i guess. I did the same as you, presumably most of your crew are dead and Anderson is dead, thane, Mordin etc. So for me, dying at the end made sense. Plus, this 'it was all a dream' is bullshit. Because if you never went on to the citadel you never activated the crucible. More than likely if that was the case, the 'dreaming' part started when shepard passes out and floats up to speak to the kid. I think the real answer is that the fact that the endings are so flimsy, is so we can make up our own minds. Personally i would have preferred it in black and white, but for me, synthesis and dying was the best. At the end of the day, synthesis was not evil like in Sarens case, because Saren was indoctrinated and was being controlled by the reapers. He wanted to join them. In the synthesis ending, it is simply a new life form, where organics and synthetics are finally united.

think about shepard going into the geth world with legion, he stays in one place in that chamber but is still able to destroy the reaper influence. While indoctrinated, the reapers hoped to make shepard spare them by exploiting his benevolent nature (yet everything feels sureal because its not real. The reapers had different ideas for saren and the illusive man (possibly just to bring shepard to this exact point). The destruction ending seems the best bet, its what you set out to do since game 1. Might not even kill the geth because if you took paragon the whole time, you find out they have souls. If you are worried about the mass effect relays and the citidel, remember who built them.

"However, you should be able to achieve high enough EMS even without multiplayer."
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I have a question on this, I had 6-something-thousand Total Military Strength, 52% Readiness and my EMS totaled to 4-something-thousand. I chose to Destroy the Reapers, Earth was saved and the Normandy crashes with Joker, Garrus and Javik stepping out. (I don't even know why Javik stepped out :/ I used him twice!)
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I essentially did EVERYTHING (mission wise) within ME2 and ME3 (I'm on PS3 so no ME1 for me), and saved the Collector Base, and it still wasn't enough to get the 'Perfect' ending. How exactly is it possible to get a high enough EMS to obtain it without doing Multiplayer? If your choices in ME1, ME2 and ME3 are all taken into consideration and I screwed over because I didn't do ME1 and have a character to import to ME2 and thus to ME3?
-Did I miss something when reading over this?

It's impossible to get the best ending without multiplayer. Unfortunately. Without multi your Total Military Strength gets cut into half, to get the best ending you need 5000 or more EMS. So essentially you need at least 10.000 TMS. I don't think it's possible.
Of course unless you're playing on PC and mod your save like I did lol.

That's good to know, I'm glad I started working on Multiplayer to bump it up anyway. Thanks for informing me. This guide needs to change that statement saying you can achieve high enough EMS without it.

You certainly didn't miss anything. I've played ME1, 2, and now 3, and done EVERYTHING on all 3 games (PC). It was easily 150 hours of gameplay. Explored every planet, completed every quest (well, nearly, some of the glitched out), and my final EMS was only 3650 or something like that at the end of ME3 (no multiplayer at all). It is IMPOSSIBLE to get the best ending without multiplayer.

I'm a little mad about it, because Bioware repeatedly said that multiplayer is not needed to get the "best" ending. I guess that was just a blatant lie. Seems to be a few of those going around recently.

I agree, I've "beat" the game twice now and only end with 3,600 (maybe a few more or less) without multiplayer. I even bought the guide book and it says its possible to get the best ending without multiplayer. Its a lie. You need multiplayer to getbest ending. Pisses.me off.

Wrong, i was able to build up my ems to almost 5k without multiplayer or datapad. You just have to do every single thing in the game. Scan every system for war assets, finish the multiple side missions in the citadel by overhearing conversations (so go around each nook and cranny of the citadel everytime you dock there), do all the other playable side missions (meaning those given by traynor) and be sure to save grissom, the tuchanka bomb, the aralakh krogans. I had an imported character though so i already started at lvl 30.

Also, I'm pretty sure that the canon (no import) version has you save the collector base, which is why Cerberus takes over Omega and kicks Aria out as is shown in the comic Collectors edition buyers get.

Plus, if Bioware go with the indoctrination theory then, and only then, will I lose faith in them.

Many people have complained about the ending/s Am I the only one who liked it? I got the "perfect" ending where shepard lives. I destroyed the reaper base in Mass effect 2 and destroyed them in mass effect 3. I also had 5900 EMS, doing the multiplayer to raise your percentage is easy. I got 100 percent after around 7 matches although I am not happy with it decreasing daily. Anyway I am happy with my ending and i welcome any upcoming dlcs which I am assuming there will be. Sometimes I think some people had imagined this grand and elaborate ending and unfortunatly they felt underwhelmed when the ending/s bioware created wasn't what they had imagined.

The bleak ending isn't what everyone is so mad about. Not every story can end with rainbows and butterflies, and I think for the most part fans are ok with the bleak ending. ya sure, I wish there was a more starwars-type ewok party at the end, but I understand that not every story ends that way.
What pisses me off is that Bioware failed to live up to ANY of their pre-release promises they made. We were promised that the end wouldn't be a simple "A, B, or C" option, and that's exactly what we got. Not only that, but there is no difference between A B or C, so really it's just a choice of what color would you like the end of the galaxy to be. No matter what you do, the ending is effectly the same. This article makes it sound as if the endings are drastically different, but they are not. The cutscenes are almost identical. Where's the choice that has been key to the other 99% of the series?

Also, my shepard has been known to shoot people in the face in the middle of a conversation, punch out reporters, headbutt krogan, and argue with the most powerful forces in the galaxy....and now I'm taking orders from a kid? I can't argue with him? I can't find his control panel and put a few rounds through it? No conversation wheel with an option to tell that kid to go to hell? Shepard dieing in the last 5 minutes of ME3 isn't the real tragedy, the REAL tragedy is that they took his spine out first.

There are huge plot holes, parts that don't make sense (how am I breathing in space?), and the ending doesn't fit the theme of the rest of the game. THAT'S why it sucks. not because of the outcome, but becuase of the way it was done.

Please tell me I wasn't the only one to try and put a round in the child's face first thing?

I've tried a number of ways without multiplayer and the ending is pretty much the same every time. Chopping 5 second scene in and out of the ending cinematic of a hell of a trilogy isn't a convincing choice of endings.

On my first playthrough (after the Extended Ending DLC) I tried shooting the kid first thing ^_^ You wanna know what happened to me? He said "SO BE IT" in some death voice and "the cycle continues" and it cut away to Liara's warning message to the next cycle saying even though we fought as a galaxy we still lost and even though we completed the Crucible we still lost and all of galactic civilization was destroyed....did this happpen to you??? I can't find any message boards where this has happened to anyone else...???

Yes. I shot the Catalyst (holographic kid) too, with the same result. Obviously the worst ending path of the game and the shortest end scene. As already mentioned, it was part of the Extended Cut DLC.

But it is strange that this is still not really documented anywhere, including ANY of these ME3 ending guides. All you ever find in googling is some links to youtube videos of that ending, and links to forums like this one that happen to mention it.

Your right about the end not fitting the theme. The ME franchise had it right there for the taking. They had the opportunity to make one of the best series in gaming history. That ending will tarnish all three games. Did they rush it to fit in multiplayer? No matter how you played your game your ending matched mine in one of three ways. Enjoy.

Watch for the Renegade Interrupt to attempt and save Anderson. You will have to press the button quickly in order to shoot The Illusive Man before he shoots Anderson in the back of his head. HOWEVER, Anderson still dies, no matter whether you shoot Illusive Man fast enough or what. The difference is only whether or not he dies by being executed in the back of the head by TIM.

Ey I have a question... I got the "perfect ending" with the synthesis thing, but in the article says shepard lives after all, but how is it possible if he´s absorbed by the catalyst beam... am I missing something??

He only lives if you select Destroy the Reapers and have more than 5000 EMS.
Having more than 5000 EMS and selecting the Synthesis or Control ending will not get you the Shepherd Breathes clip.

No one currently knows why this is the case. I'd be much happier with the ending if Shepherd had a chance to live in all of the choices if your EMS was high enough, but that's not the case thus far.
I guess we'll have to see when they decide to release a DLC.

Yeah, but why the heck does the best ending include destroying the Geth and EDI? We were a cycle that was finally creating synthetic life that liked organics. Half the game (1, 2, &3 are all about that!) They should have left it to destroying just Reapers. That's some BS, I loved EDI and the Geth!

That is what I'm disappointed in. My paragon fem-Sheperd spent 1/3 of the game convincing the universe that the Geth were our allies and defendable, then she's forced to destroy them? Helping EDI realize she loved an organic? ....

My view is that the perfect ending is synthesis. Like you said the Geth survive, EDI and Joker are left to love each other on this new planet, along with your romance surviving, and the Galaxy survives. I think that they put the "Shephard breathes" scene in to get people excited about a possible ME4, or to leave them feeling good about him not dying in the end. But it ended up back firing on them because it doesn't fit in with the game. It was just the only ending where it would be possible for him to survive, and that's after almost dying from Harbinger, getting blown up along with the Citadel, then falling through the atmosphere into earth and plummeting to the floor. They just wanted to stir things up.

New to the franchise and I think no matter the endings we all want more. I have completed the game from the start 3 times and have to say, if it was indoctrination and we get an ME4... I'll certainly buy it. This is the best game I have played in a long time.

The thing is the ending is not about Shepard it's much much more than that. TIM said so himself. This is something way beyond either of them. The ending is about the bigger picture. The goal was always to destroy the reapers even if it means killing the geth and Edi (regardless of the personal relationships you forged with Legion or Edi). If you want Shepard to survive the ordeal (in physical form) you need maximum EMS and war readiness and the only way he to do that is by destroying the reapers, this was the mission objective and if you managed to live through it even better.

The control and synergy options offer alternative endings and Of the two, the synergy option is the most appealing (especially given that you would be saving the Geth and Edi) but would. I want to show mercy on the reapers (or their creators) after seeing billions of my people die? I don't think so!

What was really annoying for me is that none of the three options allowed for the mass relays to remain intact. I will admit that this was one of my primary concerns with the options being presented to me. Whatever you do you will end up putting galactic civilization back 1000s of years and will probably have dire consequences for the inhabitants of the galaxy for a millennia. People will be cut off from each other, the fleet around Sol will be cut off from th rest of the galaxy. It's this pushing the galactic community back into the stone age (for all intents and purposes - its like us losing electricity in this day and age) that doesn't still well with me but it's the price we gave to pay to defeat the reapers.

In the end, what we have is a new world rising out of the ashes of a devastating reaper war and the choice you make determines what that new world will be. It's not about you, or your love relationship with whomever and whether you survive or not it's about the bigger picture. The end science with old man and boy says it all. Ok it's not the closure that I would have gone for but I accept it (for now).

i think the synergy option is not the best one. it makes all organic life forms evolved 1000+ years from that time. that is not how evolution is suppose to happen. what makes it even worse is that the mass relays are destroyed so that makes civilization go back 500 years. so where does that leave the synergy option

I'm fairly certain that the "best" ending is synthesis. Being that that is only unlocKable with a high enough EMS. The ending people are calling the best is only because there is a hint that Shepard lives. Destroying EDI and the Geth that you spent the game trying to convince we're allies is not even close to a "good" ending.

The REAL ending is coming soon through DLC. The ones we saw are illusions in Shepard's mind, as he was being slowly indoctrinated throughout the game (possibly starting in ME2). Remember Shepard was raised from the dead by the Illusive Man and his body is riddled with implants. A few real examples of why I believe this: black shadowy phantoms in dreams, and the same shadows on the crucible while he's awake. How did Anderson get up there? Or the I.M.? The child (who he saw in the opening of the game and in disturbing dreams) is the key hint. If your crew members fought with you in the final battle, how did they magically teleport back to Normandy only to walk out on a deserted planet? I don't think Shepard destroyed the Reapers at all; I think if you choose the "destroy" option, then you see Shepard finally shake off Reaper control and "wake up". The DLC will be the biggest "gotcha" mindf***" in gaming history.

I so very much hope you're right. I would think it was the greatest game in history if this happens to be the case. And I would happily pay for it. I think ME3 is pretty great overall, but I find that the ending crazy falls flat. Especially when there was such a build-up about how great the game was going to be, and the ending. I do remember hearing the ending would be bittersweet. I think you should get the option of having either a really good ending or a really bad ending. Good being happily ever after, and bad being the reapers win and everyone's boned. Just my opinion, though.

The main problem that I have with the endings or actually multi-coloured ending as I would put it is the lack of closure.
-Joker running from the fight without any explenation as to why he is doing that and in contradiction to his character as he wouldn't just leave Shepard behind.
-Squadmates suddenly appearing on the Normandy without any reason as to why they are there even if you just brought them to the last part of the game.
-No way to shoot the bloody kid (trust me, I tried) or to just flip him the bird and tell him you are going for option four. No explanation as to why it's him or anything either.
-No Mass Relays no matter what you do, meaning everybody is trapped in the Sol System while being low on resources due to their fight with the reapers just before you pulled the plug on their way of travel. Earth doesn't really have a lot of resources either as it has been pretty wiped out by the war.
-No closure on what exactly happens after with everybody. You have no idea who's alive or dead apart from Joker and the few other squadmates that stepped out. What happened with the fleets? What happened to the people from ME2? What the heck happened to the Normandy crew after they crashed????

And no, no matter what, Shepard DIES. He/She is dead at the end. Sure, there was that one breath but really....think about it. He/She's crushed by rubble, everyone nearby is dead or about to die, the Normandy just hightailed out of there, resources are low so probably not really a lot of medi-gel going around. How long do you think it will take before someone finds Shepard huh? They think no-one from that squad made it and if that part on the crucible was real then Hackett will think he/she is dead due to Shepard collapsing. AKA, no one is activily looking for an injured Shepard.

Does it look like he/she will last very long or is capable of digging himself/herself out and crawling for help? I don't think so. It just means Shepards execution is delayed for a few moments and gets to spend the last moments in terrible agony. There is rubble on his/her face. That isn't comfortable people. That's painfull and probably very fatal...............

Though if Miranda survived I guess she could just revive him with more tech.......oh wait, we don't know wether she made it out alive. Guess Shepard has a problem.

He died, he died while in perfectly healthy condition from falling on that planet after asphyxiating in space. This time he was hit with a laser that at the beginning of the game from a lesser reaper we saw take out a dreadnought. He then suffered the fact he was a ground zero of an explosion big enough that it tore apart a space station larger then some countries, asphyxiated if he had time while being blown up, and then likely very violently thrown into the earths atmosphere so hard he probably bounced when he first hit it (yes that happens when high speed objects sometimes, given how he somehow was on earth the explosion would have had to shot him at earth otherwise he would be floating in space given how high that station was). Then somehow is able to breath under tons of rubble. He died the first time and somehow lived this time even with implants he was still ultimately human nothing would have allowed him to live, or even leave any pieces to salvage unless he is secretly a god. He has never been through worse unless 30 nukes were dropped on him while he was in his underwear.
If it turns out he survived that, and it was not just a delusion of someone half dead, its official, Sheperd is a god.

the indoctrination theory would've made sense if the "shepard breathes" clip was there for everyone who destroys the reapers (no matter the ems, i mean, why would it?); if he doesn't wake up (thus, is dead) even with the synthetics gone, then there's no indication it was all in his head.

I would assume even if Shepard could break the indoctrination, if your EMS is low, perhaps you die because no one ever finds you because your forces are weak. Perhaps you are killer by Reaper forces because your military strength is too low.

There are two possible explanations as to why higher EMS would influence whether Shepard dies after choosing the destroy option under Indoctrination Theory.

The first is EMS functions as a booster of Shepard's confidence and willpower. High EMS means galactic civilization has made a good showing for the final battle ... largely as a result of Shepard's heroics, sacrifices or ruthless badassery. All of that is bolstering his will to live and his desire to overcome indoctrination. If your EMS is low, Shepard's willpower is weak enough that the Reapers don't have to trick him. Shepard is already broken by the shame of failing to better prepare for the final confrontation.

The second is what Xel (and the Indoctrination Theory video) suggests. The Reapers realize that they've won the battle and that there is no need to indoctrinate Shepard. With this ending, they're just toying with him in the indoctrination dream. They don't need to trick him because they've won, and force him to "choose" to an option that destroys his planet and leaves the fate of his ship crew ambiguous.

This isn't perfect, but if you think about it, the whole EMS function doesn't make a lot of sense if you take the ending at face value. Why is it that having, say, vorcha shock troops at your disposal (a 200 point war asset) can make the difference between the Crucible vaporizing Earth and merely damaging its structures? The only war assets that should make a difference in how the Crucible functions are the war assets listed under The Crucible project. All the ships, ground forces, etc. really ought to just make reaching the Citadel easier (although, to my knowledge, they don't actually).

I think most of game 3 was in his/her head... think about it, Shepard just saved them from the collectors, and 2 years before, from Sovereign. Why would they discharge her? i could understand a hearing to discuss Cerberus, but not a discharge and him/her under house arrest for months after. the EMS, to me is his minds way of quantifying his will to fight the indoctrination. if its to small when he tries to break their control his mind fries... if he tries to control or synergy, he gives in to the indoctrination. he may have gotten the signal in ME2 when he got the reaper IFF. i noticed that indoctrination took time and a weak will. when he left the derelict Reaper he was far to focused on killing the collectors so was able to resist, however, when he was confronted with a hearing for doing what had to be done to save the colony's his/her Will took a major hit and paved the way for Reaper control

I find it pretty crap that you're basically *forced* to play multiplayer to get a decent ending. Really crap in fact. I didn't by ME3 for Multiplayer and I didn't buy ME2 or ME1 for Multiplayer, either - I bought them for single player. I have kids - babies in fact, so I have to be able to pause a game when I am playing or there's no point playing for me (for those of you without babies, they have a special ability to sense when you're enjoying yourself and then begin to cry). Multiplayer takes this away from me, so I am not even interested in trying it.

If ME1 & 2 were multiplayer I'd have a different opinion, but this really, really annoys me. I have perfect Paragon and perfect Renegade saves from ME1 & 2, with 100% survival on suicide, etc - and I cannot get anywhere near 5000 EMS without multiplayer. Not even close.

Just my opinion, not hating on the people who love multiplayer, but I think Bioware wasted a lot of time trying to implement multiplayer to a singleplayer game off which they could've rather spent that time trying to think of better endings. I mean I have all the mass effect 2 dlc and did all the missions including side quests on singleplayer and I'm still on EMS of 3760 which means there it is impossible to get the 'perfect ending'. Speaking of which, why is it called the 'perfect ending' if everyone is overpopulating earth ot the sol system? Bioware has really failed me. Hence I don't think I'll be buying a bioware product/dlc anytime soon. If I wanted a multiplayer game, I wouldve bought Battlefield 3 or something like that. Now they are enforcing it upon us. ME3 is a good game, couldve been epic had it not been for the stupid ending, that doesn't involve any of the decisions we've made along the years. So what happened after the genophage cure? The Krogans overpopulated earth and sol system and killed everyone?

Loved the game all the way through, had some great one liners and epic moments that caused me to stare at the screen with my mouth gaping open. I even liked the synergy ending, Galactic peace and all that, but was shocked to see people who had ran at the Citidel with me step out of the Normandy. The person on the radio said we all got wiped out. What?

Also, I must play multiplayer to have 100% war readiness? I don't think so. That is the lamest thing they chose to include. I hate multiplayer, that's why I play RPGs. I noticed that between having 3,700 (which is all you can have without multiplayer) and having the 7,000 something that 100% readiness gives you, more civilians live. The woman that the doctor is talking to in the hospital where Liara says goodbye doesn't kill herself...etc. I'm a completionist extraordinare, if I complete everything, I better get the best of everything in the end. Im greatly disappointed in the, "if you're a completionist we're making you play multi-player," thing.

I also went through all the endings after I read this article because I couldn't believe that they were all mostly the same, but they were.

This is my theory vaguely put.
If you choice CONTROL you give into what the reapers want and the cycle continues again, 50,000 yrs from now they come back.

If you choice SYNTHESIS I feel as if this choice is what he wants you to choice making it appealing but I think it's a cover up to turning all life on the universe into husk. It's a wild allegation, but think about it how are they produced.

Lastly, DESTROY which in my opinion is the best option (with a 5K+ EMS)
Its the only ending where Shepard has a chance to live and also notice how the child, catalyst kind is disovles or disappears when you shoot the power conduit. That doesn't happen with the other choices to me that symbolizes the end of the reaper cycle
All this without the indoctrination theory, remember this is kinda vaguely put so there can be loopholes to my theory And also it can be combined with the indoctrination theory as well

also, when you choose the (i believe) "renegade / destroy the reapers" ending, there will be mentioned that it will destroy all synthetics (inclucing shepard due to upgrades), don't know about the EMS i had, but i've also heard something about it destroying technology (or i was really drunk at the time :D)

but, ... destroying technology means that the nice fleet you collected troughout me3 will fail as well? (life-support will fail on that enormous fleet shepard collected?)

then the "paragon / control the reapers" ending will kill shepard, BUT IT DIDN'T KILL TIM???
(and he already had the control ability (controlling shepard and anderson)
i'm sensing plot holes here!!

and the "green / synthesis" ending just does what the reapers were doing

altough a great game, i'm not really going to replay me1+2+3 as i originally intended, but it's a great game ;)

anyone knows why joker is actually fleeing the battle, i thought he was with one of the fleets, blasting some reapers in the meantime
(paragon / renegade was based on end color)

just thinking out loud, but i suspect a dlc will come out in the near future with the real ending, howerver, it doesn't feel right buying a game and then having to pay for a dlc for the ending :/
(unless it's free :D)

(hope to have some gameplay with previous team-mates as well (or a lot more, there was plenty of room left on the normandy :D)

so ... indoctrination theory untill "bioware / ea" confirms it :D -> i think they will make it like that (they read these posts too)

IT actually IS POSSIBLE to get the best ending (5020 EMS) WITHOUT multiplayer IF you have everyone alive from previous games and the ORIGINAL rachni queen as they add many war assets. of course you need to do every mission in ME3

I don't know why everyone is pissed you had to work a little harder for Shepard to live I didn't hear anyone complain about having to beat halo on the hardest setting to see master chief live but everyone accepts it as the true ending and I don't know why bioware has to change their ending cause a bunch of whiny kids didn't like it you didn't see James Cameron change the ending of titanic cause a bunch of little girls didn't like the fact that Leo died at the end

Well, in Arrival the relay was destroyed by an astroide smashing into it, releasing all its power and wiping out the solar system. However, at the end of ME3 the relays are "shut down". Maybe the resulting blast isn't as huge as the uncontrolled one?

I'm more puzzled as to why the relays has to be destroyed either way. The Citadel was created with a device made specfically with the intention of some organic to take control over everything by simply touching it. Now, that seems strange in itself but why on earth was there also a built in mechanism that ensured a massive infrastructure collapse by doing so? Seems enormously counter productive. Also, In the very same room there is a pipe which will kill every reaper and all their tech if someone were to put a couple of bullets in it. Terrible design flaws and very unexpected coming from a race who seems to be very methodical in terms of self-preservation in every other area.

wow you really dont even understand why people are mad they are mad because the ending makes no sense at all there are so many plot holes and the fact that EDI walked out of the normandy on the abandon planet even though all tech is suposidly gone the fact that you just killed everyone that was protecting earth the fact that you basicaly did what the reapers wanted and set everyone back to the stone ages the fact that joker was runing from a fight somthing he would never do the fact that they made you buy a game pass (if you didnt get the game new) to get the "best" ending dont compare this to halo or titanic its nothing like those at all do some reasearch and use your brain kid
also why would u try to use a titanic refernace in a game chat realy moron?

HALO??? what is this halo thing you mention? Is that a game, too? I never played this HALO thing you mention, I did play Mass Effect. Apples and Oranges, bootlegger.

And Leo dying in Titanic was not the ending of the movie, it was that stupid old lady and that giaganto diamond. That was the stupid ending part. GAH!

Some one asked, why the crew was all on the Normandy when it crashed....didn't you play the game? Before the slow motion scene and Going into the Light [Carol Ann], Shaepard makes them all leave. Why is Joker flying away from the Citadel? Again did you play the game? Hackett gives the order that some crazy Citadel explosion is about to happen. I imagine Joker wants to survive...so therefore and ergo, he flies off as ordered by the guy in charge order.

If you play as paragon and Bioware not indoctrinated you, then you must choose "control reapers"!

Here is why:

!!!!!!!Control is only way how to save ALL, how to save our cycle!!!!!!!

- Every species survive as is,
- geths stay geths, quarians, asari, krogans, turians, and all other species too
- they all maintain their individualities
- life in galaxy preserve diversity (this is most important for not bigot paragons)
- to save history
- to save instructs from our mistakes- yes Illusive man had truth, but with bad intentions and admit mistake and make choises with good intentions is one of paragons biggest advantages

Shepard can try send orders: (but its not in game)

1. let reapers help to repair devastated infrastructures, etc
2. to send information how to build new relays and other useful informations
3. let them to go to position where new relays will be placed and order them to shut down all
hardware (except holding array of energy core of course)
4. ....
.
.
After all - Shepard can ask survivors for building synthetic body (like EDI) and upload their "I" to that body before shutting down last piece of controled hardware and survive as mortal synthetic.
This must be possible becouse, boy says reapers listen "You", then there must be way how transfer shepards "I" to another platform

And now we, all together can build our new own Citadel where new council will have residence and now there be presented all alied species including synthetic (very important)

One observation from me:

End of Mass effect series is exactly the same as end of Battlestar Galactica (new) in another suit and two more scenarios what Adama can order after beating resurrection ship

hm, is it intention?

p.s.: if that orders are not possible for some stupid reasons, like only one order can be send or something then sorry, but let them go back to dark space is the most stupid order what can send, shut down is much more better. Anyway "control" is only option to save all species to save diversity to save our cycle to save history to save instructs from our mistakes

Its like Halo 3. If you don't beat the game on the highest difficulty you assume master chief is dead but you find out he's not. And now there is another series of halo games with master chief still alive! Trust me, no matter what you guys think happened Shepherd is still alive and the Mass Effect trilogy isn't over. P.S if you pay attention to the secret video the whole game is a story he's telling the boy and then the boy asks for another story and the man says alright one more... which means he's going to tell the story of the next game Mass Effect 4.

ME4 will be the movie, they won't make another game and the movie will base on Bioware decision of how the ending should be so forget about it. To save all, well the only solution is to control the reapers with max military readiness but you lose everything else. The problem with the ending is not so original, matrix anyone? new Galactica wasn't original as well, at the end everything goes into the what we know as The Bible where instead of God being the center of all here is the men in the figure of a greek-mythic human-God like figure like Perseus placed on our main character Sheppard. What is the problem, after you running around all the galaxy getting military readiness points (which at some point gets tiresome and repetitive) you get such poor ending. I ve been playing the game since me1 carrying my save through me2 and now me3 to get this???? I got my hopes up when I heard they were going to work a new end with a DLC but my hopes went down with recent news that this new DLC is just going to be an extending version of the endings we already have. At some point I like it more Fallout 3, I choose to die there and that was it, end of the story, save all in there and I was fine with that simple decision...I mean even like Bioware storyline with the star war series or Dragon ages so what happened here??? please dont give me it is ok since there are enough fan disappointed there that Bioware has to create an extending ending which I imagine was the only thing they could do cause of the game engine cannot be drastically change at the end so don't even expect much of this extending ending, dragon age II anyone?? oh well, I'm sad....

Something missed , The state of the Citadel , I imported my Me1/2 character with all paragon choices and found something strange ! , I finished the games and tried each of the endings by just loading the last save and playing through, used Paragon on TIM to kill himself and then when choosing the paragon option to control the reapers the citadel closes after its used ie doesn't blow up like the other 2 options. Thought it may have something to do with being paragon all the way and choosing the paragon option at the end !.

Why the fudge is the ending based on ur military strength anyways!? It makes no sense at ALL! I mean how the fudge is the crucible effected by my military strength? And then that stupid kid.... Erghhghghgh

I didn't play multiplayer, got 12995 War Assets(over 6000 EMS), and played perfect Green and Red endings, but my heart wasn't in it. Red ending means death for Geth(after Legion's sacrifice!) and EDI and these stupid but cute LOKI Mechs, and Green ending means betraying the humanity, making every man, woman and child an unwilling cyborg(not to mention turians, asari and other organic races). And I can't believe Blue ending, because, really, if Illusive Man, ONE MAN, controlled my Shepard minutes ago, how can Shepard hope to control an ENTIRE FLEET of Reapers?

How the heck did you get over 6000 ems without multiplayer ???? I've played through 3 times now and can only get 3491 war assets . I did notice that later on in the end of the game not all my assets were added correctly . I did that cerberus mission before sanctuary and i was suppost to get the 100 divide by 2 but only got like 12 ???? this happens a few other times, that I noticed. and why the heck did they do that have to play multiplayer to finish single player anyway ??? I don't want to play multplayer. I can't !!!! I had to hit renegade just to finish the game . It really made me feel like I didn't do it right. Not that is the worst of it . I didnt even see the grampa and kid part because I turned my xbox off during the middle of credits and then went to go stare at my bedroom walls with a total catatonic , retarded look on my face for about 2 hours.
I still just don't get it ? Why did they do that to a totally coolest game . Did they not have testers ? Were the testers drunk , on crack ??? What is the marketing strategy ? because I don't feel like all warm fuzzies and butterflies or even after I killed that giant reaper on rannoch . You know ??? I mean I died about 10 times. I think I even tried to jump off the cliff before I figured it out , BUt damm !! that was cool....

I know, I guess it really dont matter because all Ill get for my effort is a shepard takes a breath and that within it self is just another big ????

fallout had a dumb ending too . Maybe it didn't bug me as much because my character was a mute the whole game.

Okay, Bioware did this in hopes to get a strong response from its' fanbase. It was intentional. I am sure it is much more than they expected, but this was their intention. Do an Inception like ending where the ending is psychological tease. That final sequence was waaaay to weird. So many things seemed so intentionally off. They are holding back quiet a bit. I believe they are most of the indoc theory is absolutely spot on. Bioware took a risk and gave us the biggest mindfest as an ending. They had to do it this way. Them 'working' on the corrected ending is bull to give people even more time to play the game get fool by Bioware's cryptic ending.

I just finished the game and then started searching online for what other endings were like and all I hear is how bad the ending was,....from the news I heard the story of how disappointing the ending was,....people need to get a grip!!! One yes all the ending inevitably are the same,...thats a no brainer, if you want a part 4 16 different endings would mean 16 new game intro's.
Why the Normandy was in the Relay's use some imagination, maybe it was safer to wait on word from Shepard than lingering around in the middle of a galactic battle. The Citadel being brick and mortar,...well it was mentioned at the end how the Citadel was being changed, walls and doors moving around. End of story,...The reapers are gone, humans and other species survive, relays are gone so its inevitable the races will have to reinvent them in the future themselves rather than have it handed to them from a evil race of machines bent on eternal genocide.
Mass Effect 4,....1000 years in the future? I was content with how it wrapped up, keep your imagination alive and stop crying how Bioware left you with a little bit of thinking.

I fished the game about 5 days after the release. I played the game almost non-stop and finished it in about 2 days. When your squad mates are killed by the reaper before the beam i flipped out. I figured if i brought my favorite characters they would be safe but Bioware just said F you. Although people would be pissed in a DLC ending I personally would love one to give some closer.

Something I havent seen people mention is the iOS game for the iPhone. I don't play online but managed to get an EMS far exceeding 5500 by using this to get the gallactic readiness to 100%
which unlocked the synthesis ending which i chose. I loved this game but have been struggling to work out if I did the right thing because the ending didn't provide enough closure!

Something i dont get in regards to the ends in which you choose destruction and breath, didnt the catalyst say that choosing that would wipe out all synthetic life including shep as she was partly synthetic?????

I think he was never on the citadel... I think the whole thing is that Shephard is fighting indoctrination and destroying the reapers is the only option he isn't indoctrinated. Synthesis his eyes turn blue and the black takes over his face and this happens in the control option too. Thats what happens to the indoctinated

I love the Mass Effect series, and I'm not necessarily defending the ending but at the same time I think people are blowing it completely out of proportion. I know the ending's bad, I know it's very bad. I've watched like every review of the ending that you can find on Youtube and read up everybody's reaction on nearly every forum website there is so when it comes to the ending of ME3 I know roughly how it was intended to be perceived and at the same time I know why people's anguish is as it is, and I really hope to God that the extra scenes they add to the ending in this DLC that they're bringing out in the summer helps clarify or die down the nay sayers and the people who bang the drum on how much of a catastrophe the ending is, or as far as some people would go the whole game is! Honestly I like the idea of the ending, but how they presented it was completely wrong and the time allotted between all the important stuff that defines the ending isn't enough, for example, the Catalyst... you find out in Cerberus HQ that it is the Citadel, but not until you get to the final cut scene of the game do you find out that the Catalyst is in fact the creator of all the Reapers and overseer of the Universe, which is not the right time to add a completely new character and completely shift the very fabric of the game, cause ME1 was all about YOU stopping SAREN and the geth, ME2 was all about HUMANITY stopping the COLLECTORS (I say humanity cause it was human colonies that were going missing) and in ME3 they went with the perception of ORGANICS stopping SYNTHETICS, and this really starts with the Quarian war against the Geth, cause the Reaper even points out that the Rannoch War completely eradicates the notion that Organics and Synthetics can't co-exist, plus you get hints and nudges throughout the game about the choice you have to make at the end of the game, e.g. Javik's always telling you never to trust EDI or Legion or any machines and never think about others, just do what you know has to be done, implying that DESTRUCTION is the right choice, which is also the case built up by Anderson on the Citadel. Joker and EDI getting together and co-existing shows to you that SYNTHESISING can work. The Illusive Man points out on Cerberus HQ to you and EDI that EDI took control of Dr. Eva's body because it was necessary to aid Shepard and the team, thus telling you that CONTROLLING the Reapers is clearly the right idea, and of course he builds on that case on the Citadel. There are more implications throughout the game but to list them all would be lunacy and I can't do it off the top of my head. Another example of bad presentation of the ending is when you find out that the Reapers were created to stop Synthetics from killing Organics, so in turn you got Synthetics harvesting Organics to stop Synthetics killing Organics. Now I know that sounds completely idiotic but Sovereign did say on Virmire that their reasons for doing this go farther than we can comprehend and understand, so maybe you can let that one slide on the fact that you're not necessarily supposed to fully comprehend why the Reapers do what they do. I only have two genuine problems with the ending, and it's not necessarily the colour of the explosions are the only difference or that it leaves too many unanswered questions, but one thing I find to be truly annoying with the ending off Mass Effect 3 is that the whole point of Mass Effect was it's bearing of choice, not necessarily that you got so many options, but that when you play the game you play as a human who says Yes to some things, No to others, sometimes punches a guy in the face or just bites the bullet and does what's best. You get the characteristics of being a human and you get the opportunity of free will, to do whatever you want. When it comes to the ending all free will has been taken away, and you're essentially a puppet for the Catalyst cause he brings up 3 pathways (obviously less if your EMS is too low) and you pick one. You don't have human characteristics to say Yes or No or 'fuck you hologram kid your system is flawed and you can suck my dick'. What I'm generally trying to say is you don't get to reach an impass or a compromise with the Catalyst, you just say "No we don't wanna get harvested" and choose a path to walk across. My other grudge is that the choices you make are supposed to be astronomically different according to the creators before the game came out, but that's not the problem, the problem I feel is that in Mass Effect 1 you got the choice to sacrifice or save the Council, in Mass Effect 2 you got the choice to destroy the base or give it to Cerberus, and there was not really a right or wrong choice, people had different choices because they did what they wanted to do. In Mass Effect 3, however, you know that Destruction is CLEARLY the right choice because it's the only one that with over 5000 EMS you get the stay the fuck alive, and no one's gunna say "I picked control so I could die being the boss of Reapers" or "I picked synthesise so Joker and EDI can stay together forever" hell no! Anyone who knows Mass Effect picked Destruction and it doesn't bring any diversity to the game or it's fans opinion on the end. Heck that's probably why the endings are all the same, as if to say "You picked control, Nope wrong! Pick again..." The indoctrination theory is basically a cheap way out of looking at the reality of the ending. I doubt Bioware would create a game where the end is all in the protagonist's head and the one thing ever true Mass Effect fan wants to do, which is finally kick Reaper ass, never actually happened, and if that's how Bioware intended it then they did a really bad job because they left so many holes in their presentation of that theories ending. In conclusion to my big ass rant I feel the ending wasn't all that and a bag of potato chips, and I hope this DLC of extra epilogue scenes in the summer clears it up for all of us, but the ending of what I still feel to be the best game franchise I've ever played didn't necessarily live up to expectations but was fitting enough to keep me satisfied.

I had James with me in london, he should have been vapourised by harbingers beam but he popped out of the Normandy at the end with garrus and Joker... Howd he get on there..? and WHY DID TALI NOT COME OUT.... hope shes ok.
PS, the "Take ME3 Back" shit is pathetic. Dont like it? Write your own game.

I have to say, I wasn't disappointed with what was IN the endings...I was disappointed with what WASN'T. I am a big fan of the B stories, the romances and individual character arcs. Yet these were completely forgotten about in the end...what happens with my love interest? Does he mourn? Does he move on? Who survives? How do they survive? This is what I hope will be answered in the DLC.

Regarding the choices, it's fairly obvious that the synthesis choice was the "right" one. Even though Shepard appears to die, not only the way in which is was presented (with layout, visual style, dialogue, etc.) but also the culmination of the message of the game (for me as a Paragon) made it the most obvious choice. As the "kid" says, synthesis was the next stage in evolution for all life - organic and synthetic. Without it, organics and synthetics would continue to kill each other for all time. And wasn't a big part of bringing the galaxy together the idea that organics and synthetics, such as the Geth, should work together? That stopping the fighting and coming together as one force was the only way to ensure peace? That a synthetic (EDI) and an organic (Joker) could even find love despite being so different? It made total sense to me that Shepard would come to that conclusion.

Also: notice how the Normandy is affected with each choice. If you choose to destroy or control, the ship startes to break apart and catch fire when it gets caught by the blast radius. But if you choose synthesis, it gets "sucked" in and transforms instead.

Regarding the characters surviving and Joker running, it doesn't bother me that much...if Anderson survived, that gave me hope that my team did as well. More than likely EDI and Joker contacted them and extracted them before taking off...and when the blast happened, it doesn't matter if Shepard was unaccounted for, any pilot worth his salt would run from that in order to save the rest of the crew, especially if he wasn't sure what the blast was going to do. (Let's not forget...Joker's priority has always been the Normandy and EDI, not Shepard).

I find it a little odd that Kaiden (who was with me in London) wasn't a little more beat up when he walked out of the Normandy, but maybe he just got lucky.

And as for the indoctrination ending, I'm sorry, but that's just a crock. It's fun to think about in a conspiracy theory sense, but it makes no sense for this particular story arc in the ME universe. Bioware has stated again and again that this is the end, that they're sticking to this conclusion of the game and the Shepard character. To think that the whole thing was an indoctrination dream is contrary to both the nature of the game and the nature of Bioware's storytelling.

I agree that the ending was a little disappointing; I wish it could have been more. Bioware tends to have trouble with opening doors (plot points and stories) and then not closing them (Dragon Age II anyone?). And that they described it as "bittersweet" was a little misleading, since that implies that you would see more of a reaction from Shepard's friends and comrades. (I still want to know how Kaidan reacts to my death, seeing how his last words to me were "I can't lose you again.") But in regards to the choices, I think they make total sense in regards to the overall message of the game. I just wish I could see more of the results of those choices.

I'm really pissed off about needing to play multiplayer in order to get the best ending. I am unable to get a broadband modem where we are (due to reason unknown to me) and we're stuck using a mobile broadband which is expensive for purchasing credit and lags a lot using online multiplayer for any game anyways. I feel cheated and forced into spending money for an ending that probably isn't that good anyway. I love the ME series and this came as a great disappointment to me. I'm not even going to go into detail about bioware's lies and false advertising regarding this. While my trust in bioware hasn't wavered, it just feels that a really great series was let down. Also considering that most games i know of are stuck to a linear campaign/single player story. We need more games like ME that give the player freedom on choice and suffering consequences and reaping benefits depending on decisions they made.

One thing i can think of that they could have done (apart from fixing the endings) is selecting a battle tactic or formation that will have different effects on the outcome. A few of examples of effects could be the all too obvious squad mates dying, number of enemies destroyed, civilian casualties, diplomatic treaties with alien races of your choice (they obviously have to agree, also depending on choices you made (whether you anger them, hinder them, benefit them etc.), races becoming extinct and even technological supremacy for a certain race. All depending on choices you made in the previous game.

Hey you miss 1 ending :) I dont know if i miss it somewhere and i didnt read the hole post. This ending is when the hole galaxy fail to stop the Reapers. First time when i get to the end i simply forgot wich side is for wich ending :P I just turn back and i shoot the kid. Then the kid say saomethink (i forgot what) and just turn back and then BAM - i got cut scene on some green place and some mechanick flashing thing. Then the camera goes under the graund where its some chamber. There its the box that Liara make for Shepard (the memoris or what ever it was). It contains this info and the info for the Reapers threat plus the Crucible blue prints. It says they all fail.
Then i replay the Citadel Autosave and i chose the control ending. It ends whit the blue lights. Then it comes Shepard in cut scene and he explains that he maintain control over the reapers and hepls to rebild all that its lost or something like that. Then he use the reaper forces to protekt the galaxy.
Note that i have the extendet ending DLC. I dont know which is new or there have no difrance. My readines was 50% and i got lets say 99% of the war assects (i miss 1 cuz the att over the Citadel from Cerberus).I have max Pragon and use only pragon on TIM.I didnt save anderson(no Renegat actionapears).Anderson was shoot but he survive till they talk. I have ME2 Import whit the base destroied(PS3 game).Normandy crew put "Commander Shepard" on the crew memmorial wall. All of them was there but Javrik(or i ddint see him and im sure he survive whit Garrus in the last rush to the beam when i send them back to Normandy).
So my question is - is there posible to have more endings that we dont know yet? More combinations that change the ending? Im not sure but i think i sow TIM on the question cinematic for the control ending. Ofk he was dead olready when I pic the control - but still.

I have played a lot of games where the main character dies and is considered a hero - I may not always like it, but I get it. However, this game is different than most other games. Personally, I spent a lot more time in this game creating my character, making decisions, and building relationships then I have in other games. I may not have programmed the game itself, but I loved the fact that I was able to create my own story (in a sense). This is not like most games where you are just playing a fixed game to get a pre-determined ending.

I've read comments on how some people did not agree with Bioware making any changes or even the DLC because they are concerned that the gaming industry may now be forced to bow down to fans in order to give them what they want (which could affect the artistic integrity of the games). In most cases I would agree, however since this is not a fixed game and you do get to make your own decisions then you should also get to choose the ending you would want for your character. Personally, I do NOT want my Shepard to die! It just doesn’t fit into the story that I had in mind. To give me all this freedom in creating the perfect character and then to be forced into an ending that I do not agree with is just not right and almost cruel.

I know that there is 1 ending that gives you the appearance that Shepard may have survived, but the Normandy crew still can have a memorial for the Commander (so, can you assume that Shepard may have survived but the crew does not know it?!?). I am almost finished with the game, but I came to this site because I heard the rumors about the disappointing ending and I wanted to make sure that I did what I could to get the best ending available.

Whatever the ending I know I will do my best to twist it into something that lets me believe that my Shepard survives and can be reunited with the Normandy crew (especially Shepards lover), but I shouldn't have to do that. I should have had that ending option in the game. I know that some people may think it is silly to take a video game so seriously, but when you find something that mimics the challenges of todays society and provides you with suggestions that you can even apply to your own life (whether it is fiction or non-fiction) it is almost impossible to not get passionate about it.

I know that it would not look good for Bioware if they totally erased the original ending options of the game, it would be like admitting that they failed. I don't think that they failed because Mass Effect is truly great overall. I just hope that they come out with more DLC's that provide the gamer with the ending that they feel works properly with their story.

I think there will be another mass effect because the farther and son have a conversation the son says tell me another story about commander sheperd the father says ok one more and sheperd does breath at the end and I the Normandy survives the beam in the earlier games they say destroying a mass rely will destroy the galaxy does that still apply to mass effect 3

In conclusion I believe there will be a Mass Effect 3.5/4 (3.5 being a spin off) whitch will explain the endings in detail and could possibly play as James Vega s he is the only NCP to not nhave a background in Me1 and Me2 (I hope any way)

Worst ending of all time. So bad that 100hrs of the best game storyline of this generation of consoles was ruined by 15 minutes of the most pathetic excuse of an ending of all time. I'm genuinely angry at BioWare for ruining such a great story.

sorry, my Military strength was 4593, so if I chose to destroy Reapers, I should have survived if I shot TIM before he kills Anderson. I did it, but Shepard didn't survive! even though humans saved. can any one tell me why Shepard Died?

For what its worth, here's my 2 Credits on what happened in this epically confusing finale...

I'll start by saying that I understand why so many people where disappointed with the endings, but I'm not sure most people understand WHY they where disappointed. I think a lot of people would have been disappointed no matter what happened, simply because the whole ME trilogy was so long and epic and intricate that the only ending that could come close to giving it justice would have to be like, a 2 hour cutscene showing how EVERYTHING turned out. The thing is, I think a ME movie is a TERRIBLE idea. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but Hollywood has a really bad habit of raping movies for profit. Their only goal is to sell as many tickets as possible, so they try to appeal to largest audience they can. They'd make it a borderline kids movie, like 14A / PG13, with some cornball cast of beefheads and "hot chicks" and CGI aliens, plucking random pieces of the plot from ME and mangling it into some BS preachy movie about how technology is bad and we should all recycle or something.

Anyway, bad movies aside, the game is what matters, and though I was actually pleased with the ending (ill explain in a moment), the main thing that disappointed me was a lack of closure with my crew (squadmates, love interest, etc.). I think this is what got to most other people as well, the fact that you don't get to see your crew cope with the aftermath, its all left to your imagination, which can be nice, but not when uv spent countless hours building up to this, where every descision effects the outcome, and u don't even get to see how it affects your closest friends. More attention paid to how this all affects your crew would have been much more satisfying, and while I agree that not every story needs a happy ending, it would be nice if that was one option, like seeing Shepard united with his/her love, and maybe she's pregnant (or if its fem shep, ur pregnant), or if u got gay with kaidan or Ashley u can adopt some refugee orphans or something. Even if millions of people died, that would still make it a partly happy ending option, still more satisfying than the cliffhanger they gave us. Did they crash on Mars? Whatever, forget it. Apart from the lack of closure with the crew, the end was actually very clever and well done. I'll do my best to explain. For those of you who can't quite put your finger on why you didn't like it, your probly just mad that its all over and theres no more ME. It's natural, Ull get over it.

So, now that iv cleared that up, here's my theory on how the shit goes down in the end.
My theory is a combination of the indoctrination theory and the "reality" theory I guess u could call it. It's a mix of both.

First of all, it is assenine to think that Shepard is not being indoctrinated in any way whatsoever. You spend a lot of time with a lot of Reapers, and that Asari scientist u meet on Vermire in Sarens base in ME1 clearly explains how indoctrination works. It's SUBTLE! It doesn't just immediately slap u into a full blown hallucination the minute ur about to contradict Reaper control. It happens gradually, and slowly makes you believe what the Reapers want u to believe. Just like what happened to Saren. He thought he was doing the right thing. His idea was synthesis. A merger of flesh and steel, as he put it, which is one of the options u can choose at the end of ME3. The Illusive man, who we learn also becomes indoctrinated, thinks that controlling the Reapers is the right thing to do, also an option u can pick at the end. These ideas are what the Reapers wanted these men to believe was a good idea. Is it any surprise that the supposed leader of the Reapers suggests that you do the same thing(s), while preaching that destroying the Reapers is somehow a bad thing? The game has cleverly indoctrinated the player into believing that control/synthesis is a good idea, especially since these conversation options are labeled as blue paragon choices, benevolent descisions, while destroying the Reapers is labeled as the asshole thing to do. That's what the Reapers want u to think. Everyone who thinks that control or synthesis was the right choice has been indoctrinated in real life by a video game. It's a very clever ending. Both Saren and TIM shoot themselves in the head if u convince them they're wrong, so to go ahead and do the same thing, because a Reaper told u its a good idea, well, can anyone say indoctrinated?

As far as what actually happens, yes you do get beamed up to the crucible, but by this point the indoctrination is weighing heavily on ur mind. It is a sort of indoctrination fantasy, but its the Reapers last effort to stop you. As u approch the controls to trigger the crucible, the Reapers attemp a full mind-rape of Shepard to stop you from.destroying them. Anderson and TIM can't teleport, they're not really there, its the Reapers trying to sodemise ur brain. The real kicker, is that that kid is not the catalyst. The leader of the Reapers is and always has been, Harbinger. He is the final boss. When ur charging down that highway to get to the light elevator thing, that's Harbinger in the distance. He sais assuming control when u get hit/transport to the crucible. Now, think about it. They could have made it like any other game where in order to get to the final objective u gotta get through the final boss, so u gotta shoot a bunch of hard points at the right time to kill it. We've all done that 100 times in 100 other games. This game took New path, a battle of the mind, between you and Harbinger. It's not what everyone expected, but was anything in this game? I think it was brilliant. Bold, daring. It was bound to piss some people off.

And so, if u chose either control / synthesis, uv been indoctrinated and the end scene is basically a lie to make shepherd dossile while the Reapers finish what they came to do. If u destroy the Reapers with enough military backup to hold the area around Harbinger, u can actually live. There's mass devastation, but that was unnevitable. It's the only way to stop the Reapers, and that has been the goal since ME1.

Correction: Harbinger does NOT actually say "assuming control" when you enter the heavy, final stages of your indoctrination, for some reason I remembered that happening but I played through again and it didn't. Maybe a glitch, or maybe I'm indoctrinated.

Either way, my theory still stands, and I believe the games developers and the game itself provided no details on this to further immerse the indoctrinated players. If you'd actually been indoctrinated, you'd never really know, ud think it worked out, even if it didn't, cause ur under Harbingers control. Iv seen a few theories similar to this and I believe its what the game is all about. Fighting reapers, and fighting indoctrination. Even the major players in the ME universe fit the 3 final options in the game (not.including the F you option in DLC). Saren always preached synthesis, TIM preached control, and Shepard spent 3 games preaching destruction. Destroy the Reapers. 3 characters, 3 ideas. And since shepard ends up defeating both Saren and TIM, along with their ideas, it just seems foolish to do the same things those 2 wanted to do. The things you faught, killed / imposed suicide to stop from acheiving their plans. Even if you become "enlightened" at the very end, I just can't trust a creepy holographic boy who controls Reapers. It's all in Shepards head. The boy sais he created the Reapers to prevent synthetic life from extinguishing organic life. To create order. And that by destroying the reapers, it would all happen again in the future. But, saying he will just hand the Reapers over to you, it doesn't make sense. There's no guarantee that Shepard will always enforce order, its just as big a gamble on the kids part as destroying the Reapers would be. That kid is just pulling anything he can out of his ass to convince you to not destroy the reapers. I really think its just harbinger doing his psychic lobotomy.

Oh, and as for how Shepard got back to earth, when you destroy the tube thing, it doesn't immediately blow the shit up, it opens the citadel arms. The process of the arms opening all the way and the crucible attaching takes at least a few minutes. More than enough time for Shepard to limp.back to the light elevator before passing out from blood loss and mind rape.

Honestly, "the Illusive man could never control us cause we control him" WE, not I, WE. "We are Harbinger!" The catalyst is the citadel. Period. That kid is bs. Oh of coarse, we don't control Shepard. You can control us. Wink wink. Go for it! Great idea. Cause, u know, uv got some cybernetic implants, ull die man. The only way to live is to synthesize, man. You can keep the mass relays, its all good. Trust me.

It's almost funny how desperate the kid sounds. Just please don't blow us up. KILL HARBINGER!!

Keep repeating, its just a game, it's just a game. After hearing the endless moaning about 'the end' I expected something, I dunno.....everyone dies and Reapers are the only existing 'life form' or...Some of the crew and allies survive the final onslaught and have to build up strength thru endless ME games to meet the NEXT apocalypse, or.....that would have been short and to the point.

While I can appreciate the fact that people played thru all three games (ME3 was my first experience with the series) and 'invested' a lot in the experience, you basically GOT the experience of endless hours thru three games. And? I love games which are immersive....real RPG can raise havoc with your real life as you ponder decisions during the day that you can implement in the game world. Etc, etc. etc........Even however, watching a really complex movie with an important theme, and debating over the endings, the meanings, the possible choices....it is, when all is said and done? A movie, or a game. We bought a game folks. We got that.

For the sake of discussion though, re: the end. Did anyone bother to think that the developers have a very simple trope in mind to continue the series? Its Star Wars backwards, in a sense. I mean this in a very general way. And Star Wars is actually much more simplistic and naive about issues than almost any epic story I can think of. But it did have a good guy become Darth Vader after all. The Control option, an option anyone can get....leaves open the possibility that the next ME game will begin on a "Sith" note? Does the incorporate Shepard wield power for good or evil once he's accustomed to the taste. If you chose Destroy, all the thread posts about waking up from some dream, would apply to start the next game....as in 'This is what you get for Destroying Shit.'

Developers can spin it any way they like....a bit of chatter about The Law of Conservation in phyics states that energy is never destroyed, it is merely changed. Sci Fic mumbo jumbo can get the Shepard entity into a new shell if it wants. Or have him appearing as a AI which can be eventually developed into a biped life form in ME 7......the developers are after all, designing games that sell. Or completely different option of course....a prequel or two? Before moving on.

As a player? The ending was satisfying as some have already mentioned on several counts: first, if there is a message, its a tough message that you sometimes lose yourself to save others. Especially ones you love. Having played the Control ending, it could be worse. I'm basically a god in the universe, and my selfish interests of those I loved surviving? well that happened. As did many characters on a pretty paradisical planet....could be worse. If you could attain the merging and save yourself ( a slim possibility as pointed out) and wipe out millions to do so via destructin of the Reapers? Yadda yadda yadda, yeah all endings have lots of people die either way. I bought the ticket, I took the ride. Its over and there are still options to continue the series.

I would be curious as to what info leaks out if a new ME 4 comes out.....like will they advertise Shepard, or do a complete secrecy sell? Or admit its a prequel. Options are endless, and yet one really: there will be more ME cuz it makes money.....and it will make money.

Having invested time in this so far? It'll be interesting to roll with the punches that Bioware comes up with to either continue the myth, or start fresh with some old faces. Or have a new gen of gamers start playing Kaidan or Ashley, or Joker...influenced by and remembering the hero of 1-3...paving the way for ingame cameos......but it boils down to ? Its a game, it was fun, it made me think, and it made me groan as well at some really shoddy writing and characterization during the game....almost becoming as simplistic as Star Wars, yet remains above that series in a number of ways. You can boycott, you can debate, you can write letters, you can taking it all too seriously but? Jesus H. Shepard.....do it and be done? :P Buy the next or don't, but if the only thing people got from the series is it doesn't end in a way I accept or understand, or it is not a black and white answer at the end and everyone else is wrong? Then why did y'all spend so much time bringing warring factions together in the game, only to have flaming holy wars on line about , yeah, a game.

Yup, here I am joining that same discussion ....about a game. Way to go Bioware. At least you're not boring or uncontroversial in your quest for the big bucks.

Keep repeating, its just a game, it's just a game. After hearing the endless moaning about 'the end' I expected something, I dunno.....everyone dies and Reapers are the only existing 'life form' or...Some of the crew and allies survive the final onslaught and have to build up strength thru endless ME games to meet the NEXT apocalypse, or.....that would have been short and to the point.

While I can appreciate the fact that people played thru all three games (ME3 was my first experience with the series) and 'invested' a lot in the experience, you basically GOT the experience of endless hours thru three games. And? I love games which are immersive....real RPG can raise havoc with your real life as you ponder decisions during the day that you can implement in the game world. Etc, etc. etc........Even however, watching a really complex movie with an important theme, and debating over the endings, the meanings, the possible choices....it is, when all is said and done? A movie, or a game. We bought a game folks. We got that.

For the sake of discussion though, re: the end. Did anyone bother to think that the developers have a very simple trope in mind to continue the series? Its Star Wars backwards, in a sense. I mean this in a very general way. And Star Wars is actually much more simplistic and naive about issues than almost any epic story I can think of. But it did have a good guy become Darth Vader after all. The Control option, an option anyone can get....leaves open the possibility that the next ME game will begin on a "Sith" note? Does the incorporate Shepard wield power for good or evil once he's accustomed to the taste. If you chose Destroy, all the thread posts about waking up from some dream, would apply to start the next game....as in 'This is what you get for Destroying Shit.'

Developers can spin it any way they like....a bit of chatter about The Law of Conservation in phyics states that energy is never destroyed, it is merely changed. Sci Fic mumbo jumbo can get the Shepard entity into a new shell if it wants. Or have him appearing as a AI which can be eventually developed into a biped life form in ME 7......the developers are after all, designing games that sell. Or completely different option of course....a prequel or two? Before moving on.

As a player? The ending was satisfying as some have already mentioned on several counts: first, if there is a message, its a tough message that you sometimes lose yourself to save others. Especially ones you love. Having played the Control ending, it could be worse. I'm basically a god in the universe, and my selfish interests of those I loved surviving? well that happened. As did many characters on a pretty paradisical planet....could be worse. If you could attain the merging and save yourself ( a slim possibility as pointed out) and wipe out millions to do so via destructin of the Reapers? Yadda yadda yadda, yeah all endings have lots of people die either way. I bought the ticket, I took the ride. Its over and there are still options to continue the series.

I would be curious as to what info leaks out if a new ME 4 comes out.....like will they advertise Shepard, or do a complete secrecy sell? Or admit its a prequel. Options are endless, and yet one really: there will be more ME cuz it makes money.....and it will make money.

Having invested time in this so far? It'll be interesting to roll with the punches that Bioware comes up with to either continue the myth, or start fresh with some old faces. Or have a new gen of gamers start playing Kaidan or Ashley, or Joker...influenced by and remembering the hero of 1-3...paving the way for ingame cameos......but it boils down to ? Its a game, it was fun, it made me think, and it made me groan as well at some really shoddy writing and characterization during the game....almost becoming as simplistic as Star Wars, yet remains above that series in a number of ways. You can boycott, you can debate, you can write letters, you can taking it all too seriously but? Jesus H. Shepard.....do it and be done? :P Buy the next or don't, but if the only thing people got from the series is it doesn't end in a way I accept or understand, or it is not a black and white answer at the end and everyone else is wrong? Then why did y'all spend so much time bringing warring factions together in the game, only to have flaming holy wars on line about , yeah, a game.

Yup, here I am joining that same discussion ....about a game. Way to go Bioware. At least you're not boring or uncontroversial in your quest for the big bucks.